• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.703-714
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• 2010

This paper proposes an approach for staged finite element modeling with coupled seepage and stress analysis. The stage modeling is based on the predefined inter-relationship between the base model and the unit stage models. A unit stage constitutes a complete finite element model, of which the geometries and attributes are subject to changes from stage to stage. The seepage analysis precedes the mechanical stress analysis at every stage. Division of the wet and dry zone and the pore pressures are evaluated from the seepage analysis and used in determining input data for the stress analysis. The results of the stress analysis may also be associated with the pore water pressures. For consolidation analysis, the pore pressure and the displacement variables are mixed in a coupled matrix equation. The time marching solution produces the dissipation of excess pore pressure and variation of stresses with passage of time. For undrained analysis, the excess pore pressures are computed from the stress increment due to loading applied in the unit stage and are used in revising the hydraulic head. The solution results of a unit stage are inherited and accumulated to the subsequent stages through the relationship of the base model and the individual unit stages. Implementation of the proposed approach is outlined on the basis of the core procedures, and numerical examples are presented for demonstration of its application.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.353-370
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• 2017

This paper presents a case study and numerical investigation to study the hydro-mechanical response of a shallow landslide in unsaturated slopes subjected to rainfall infiltration using a coupled model. The coupled model was interpreted in details by expressing the balance equations for soil mixture and the coupled constitutive equations. The coupled model was verified against experimental data from the shearing-infiltration triaxial tests. A real case of shallow landslide occurred on Mt. Umyeonsan, Seoul, Korea was employed to explore the influence of rainfall infiltration on the slope stability during heavy rainfall. Numerical results showed that the coupled model accurately predicted the poromechanical behavior of a rainfall-induced landslide by simultaneously linking seepage and stress-strain problems. It was also found that the coupled model properly described progress failure of a slope in a highly transient condition. Through the comparisons between the coupled and uncoupled models, the coupled model provided more realistic analysis results under rainfall. Consequently, the coupled model was found to be feasible for the stability and seepage analysis of practical engineering problems.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.35-43
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• 2010

Partially saturated permeability should be defined by the function of suction (or degree of saturation) and porosity. However, commercial software and most researchers' model often describe as the function of suction. The stability of a soil slope can be affected by both hydraulic and shear strength properties of partially saturated soils. For both studies, we generally use an uncoupled seepage analysis program Seep/W(Geo-Slope, 2007) and a series stress-deformation analysis program Sigma/W, or slope stability analysis program Slope/W. Seep/W is performed for simulations of partially saturated flow problems in non-deformable soil media. However, under real situations, the water flow processes in a deformable soil are influenced by soil skeleton movement and the pore water pressure changed due to seepage will lead to changes in stresses and to deformation of a soil. Many researchers are currently developing their models for solving coupled hydro-mechanical problems to simulate slope stability during a rainstorm. For a proper implementation in the field, the developed model should be still needed in order to achieve appropriate accuracy of the solution for coupled hydro-mechanical problems in soil slope stability. Thus, the paper presents the comparison of slope stability between uncoupled and coupled analyses of seepage and stress deformation problems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.273-280
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• 2003

Tunneling in difficult geological conditions is often inevitable especially in urban areas. Ground improvement and reinforcement techniques are often required to guarantee safe tunnel excavations and/or to prevent damage to adjacent structures. The steel pipe-reinforced multi-step grouting method has been recently applied to tunnel sites in Korea as an auxiliary technique. In this study, the face stability with steel pipe-reinforced multi-step grouting was evaluated by simultaneously considering two factors: one is the effective stress acting on the tunnel face calculated by limit theorem and limit equilibrium method; the other is the seepage force obtained by means of numerical analysis. The study revealed that the influence of the steel pipe-reinforced multi-step grouting on the support pressure in dry condition is not significant while there is relatively a large amount of reduction in seepage forces by adopting the technique in saturated condition. The effect of the anisotropy of permeability on the seepage force acting on the tunnel face was also estimated by conducting the coupled analysis. It was found that a higher horizontal permeability compared with the vertical one causes reduction in the seepage force acting on the tunnel face.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.862-870
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• 2010

This thesis has been researched on optimized design method for the total cross section of embankment considering the fact that the size of embankment cross section is directly related with economic efficiency when dam designing. In general, embankment cross section of fill dam is either determined by cohesion and angle of internal friction, a strength parameter of embankment materials or by permeability of embankment. Therefore the size of embankment cross section depending on strength parameter of embankment materials was determined by using MIDAS-GTS program through stress-seepage coupled analysis at the time of fill dam design. As a result, determination of embankment cross section was more affected by the size of central core and permeability rather than by slope stability by shear strength and it was revealed that in case of embankment height being over 20m, stability against infiltration and slope action could be secured only when embankment slope is at least over 1:2.5. In addition, it was also revealed that in case of making the size of central core exceeding specification standard, total cross section of embankment could be reduced considerably and at the time of embankment design, adequate size and appropriateness of embankment cross section could be determined with referring the table suggested by this study.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.69-78
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• 2012

Conventional numerical analysis for rainfall-induced slope stability has been estimated by separating seepage and stress-strain behavior, respectively. Many researchers' models from commercial softwares and literatures define that partially saturated permeability is the only function of degree of saturation (or matrix suction) and then they do not consider hydraulic-mechanical characteristics for the analysis. However, in practice, the water flow processes in a deformable soil are influenced by soil skeleton movement and the pore water pressure changed due to seepage will lead to changes in stress and to deformation of a soil. The relationship between seepage and soil behavior causes a change of partially saturated permeability as well as saturated permeability with the lapse of time. Instability of partially saturated soil slopes due to infiltration would be analyzed from reduction of negative pore water pressure calculating the process of water flow based on predicted partially saturated permeability. Therefore, partially saturated permeability should be defined by the function of degree of saturation (or matric suction) and porosity. The paper presents the comparison between staggered and monolithic coupled analysis regarding seepage and stress deformation problems. As a result, the decrease in matric suction on soil slope from monolithic analysis is slower than that from staggered analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.34-34
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• 2012

Heavy storms rainfall has caused many landslides and slope failures especially in the mountainous area of the world. Landslides and slope failures are common geologic hazards and posed serious threats and globally cause billions in monetary losses and thousands of casualies each year so that studies on slope stability and its failure mechanism under rainfall are being increasing attention of these days. Rainfall-induced slope failures are generally caused by the rise in ground water level, and increase in pore water pressures and seepage forces during periods of intense rainfall. The effective stress in the soil will be decreased due to the increased pore pressure, which thus reduces the soil shear strength, eventually resulting in slope failure. During the rainfall, a wetting front goes downward into the slope, resulting in a gradual increase of the water content and a decrease of the negative pore-water pressure. This negative pore-water pressure is referred to as matric suction when referenced to the pore air pressure that contributes to the stability of unsaturated soil slopes. Therefore, the importance is the study of saturated unsaturated soil behaviors in evaluation of slope stability under heavy rainfall condition. In an actual field, a series of failures may occur in a slope due to a rainfall event. So, this study attempts to develop a numerical model to investigate this failure mechanism. A two-dimensional seepage flow model coupled with a one-dimensional surface flow and erosion/deposition model is used for seepage analysis. It is necessary to identify either there is surface runoff produced or not in a soil slope during a rainfall event, while analyzing the seepage and stability of such slopes. Runoff produced by rainfall may result erosion/deposition process on the surface of the slope. The depth of runoff has vital role in the seepage process within the soil domain so that surface flow and erosion/deposition model computes the surface water head of the runoff produced by the rainfall, and erosion/deposition on the surface of the model slope. Pore water pressure and moisture content data obtained by the seepage flow model are then used to analyze the stability of the slope. Spencer method of slope stability analysis is incorporated into dynamic programming to locate the critical slip surface of a general slope.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.101-113
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• 2012

The degradation of a tunnel drainage system leads to increases in pore water pressure around the tunnel and the lining stress, which results in affecting the tunnel stability. In the present study of the Namsan 3th tunnel, more than 30 year old tunnel, the effects of the drainage performance reduction due to drain hole clogging on the tunnel lining stability were investigated by examining pore water pressure distribution around the tunnel and the lining stresses through numerical analysis. Groundwater flow modeling on the Mt. Namsan region was done first and 3D seepage and coupled stress-pore water pressure finite element analysis were performed on the tunnel using the results of the groundwater flow modeling. The pore water pressure distribution and the tunnel lining stresses could be predicted using a drain hole outflow data measured in the tunnel site. This analysis method may be used to evaluate the current stability of old tunnels for which in most cases field investigations and related information are not readily available.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.35-45
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• 2014

Limit equilibrium methods of slope stability analysis have been widely adopted mainly due to their simplicity and applicability. However, the conventional methods may not give reliable and convincing results for various geological conditions such as nonhomogeneous and anisotropic soils. Also, they do not take into account soil slope history nor the initial state of stress, for example excavation or fill placement. In contrast to the limit equilibrium analysis, the analysis of deformation and stress distribution by finite element method can deal with the complex loading sequence and the growth of inelastic zone with time. This paper proposes a technique to determine the critical slip surface as well as to calculate the factor of safety for shallow failure on partially saturated soil slope. Based on the effective stress field in finite element analysis, all stresses are estimated at each Gaussian point of elements. The search strategy for a noncircular critical slip surface along weak points is appropriate for rainfall-induced shallow slope failure. The change of unit weight by seepage force has an effect on the horizontal and vertical displacements on the soil slope. The Drucker-Prager failure criterion was adopted for stress-strain relation to calculate coupling hydraulic and mechanical behavior of the partially saturated soil slope.